Indirect Benefits of Women's Education
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2012 Indirect Benefits of Women’s Education: Evidence from Bangladesh Selina Akhter University of Wollongong Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Thesis Indirect Benefits of Women’s Education: Evidence from Bangladesh A Thesis Submitted in the Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of the Degree Doctor of Philosophy University of Wollongong School of Economics and Information Systems Faculty of Commerce New South Wales, Australia Selina Akhter Deputy Chief Bangladesh Planning Commission Copyright © Selina Akhter Declaration I hereby declare that the material contained within the thesis has not previously been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma at this University or any other institutes of learning. I certify that any help received in preparing this thesis and all sources are acknowledged. Selina Akhter Deputy Chief Bangladesh Planning Commission i Acknowledgement It is a great opportunity for me to acknowledge people who helped me in various ways in the long way of doing Ph.D. First, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my principal supervisor Ann T. Hodgkinson, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Wollongong, Australia, from whom I received encouragement, guidance, detailed criticism and insightful suggestions which helped me focus my ideas and enriching thinking, and finally shaped the thesis. I also express my gratitude to Dr. Khorshed Chowdhury, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, Australia for his kind and amiable assistance. It is my immense pleasure to work with Richard Palmer-Jones, Senior Lecturer, University of East Anglia, England, while working on Bangladesh Planning Commission - the working place of mine, who helped me enormously by his own way of teaching especially technical aspects of data analysis of this thesis. I express my special thanks to him. I am especially grateful to my senior colleague Mr. A.K.M. Khorshed Alam who read the manuscript and helped me to improve it. I am very grateful to authority of University of Wollongong, Australia for providing me financial assistance without which it would have been impossible to complete the thesis successfully. I offer special thanks to my husband who accompanied me with all sorrows and happiness in managing familial issues during the long period of study. I also offer heartfelt love and affection to my sweet daughters for their sacrifices and pains undertaken. I pay homage and regards to my lovely parents especially my father who inspired me mentally and spiritually to continue study. Finally, I would like to convey my thanks to office colleagues with whom I shared the difficulties due to study. Selina Akhter Deputy Chief Bangladesh Planning Commission ii Contents Page no. Declaration i Acknowledgement ii Table of Contents iii-ix Abstract x Chapter 1 Introduction 1-20 1.1 Geographical Location of Bangladesh 1-5 1.1.1 Population 2-3 1.1.2 Education 3 1.1.3 Health and Nutrition 3-5 1.2 Socio-economic Context: Present Status, Problems and Prospects 5-10 1.2.1 Background 5-6 1.2.2 Development Plans and Programs 6 1.2.3 Poverty Trend and Poverty Reduction Initiatives 7-8 1.2.4 Nutritional Status and Policies 8-9 1.2.5 Educational Attainment and Policies 9-10 1.3 Research Problem 10-12 1.3.1 Need for Research in Women’s Education 12 1.4 Objectives of the Study 12-13 1.5 Theoretical Basis 13-15 1.6 Methodology 15-16 1.7 Structure of the Thesis 16-18 1.8 Definitions of Terms 18-20 Chapter 2 The Benefits from Educating Women: A Literature Review 21-65 2.1 Human Capital Theory 23-33 2.1.1 The Rate of Returns to Education 25-28 2.1.2 Determinants of Human Capital 28-31 2.1.3 Application of Human Capital Theory to Women’s Education 31-33 iii 2.2 Benefits of Women’s Education 33-44 2.2.1 Economic Benefits 33-38 I. Economic Growth 33-34 II. Women’s Labour Force Participation and the Rate of Returns to 34-37 Education III. Wage Discrimination 37-38 2.2.2 Social Benefits 38-44 I. Fertility and Women’s Education 38-40 II. Child Mortality and Women’s Education 40-44 2.3 Costs of Children’s Education 44-47 2.3.1 Educational Costs by Gender 44-47 2.4 Women’s Education and Children’s Educational Attainment 47-48 2.5 Women’s Education and Child Nutrition 48-50 2.6 Factors Associated with Lower Women’s Education 50-55 2.7 Consequences of Women’s Lower Level Education 55-57 2.8 Primary Education versus Post-primary Education 57-62 2.9 Concluding Remarks 62-65 Chapter 3 Education Status of Women in Bangladesh 66-102 3.1 Education System in Bangladesh 67-73 3.1.1 General Education 67-70 I. Primary School (Grades I-V) 67-68 II. Secondary School (Grades VI-XII) 68-69 III. Tertiary Level (Grade XII and above) 69-71 3.1.2 Madrasa Education 71-72 3.1.3 Technical and Vocational Education 72 3.1.4 Non-formal Education 72-73 3.2 Education Policies and Strategies 73-80 3.2.1 Major Policies regarding Education 74 3.2.2 Strategies Regarding Education 74-75 3.2.3 Programs Implemented in Education Sector 75-79 I. Stipend Program for Primary School Students 76 II. Primary Education Development Program 76 III. Reaching out of School Children Project 76-77 IV. School Feeding Program 77 iv V. Female Secondary School Stipend Program 77 VI. Secondary School Sector Improvement Program 77-78 VII. Compulsory Primary Education Implementation Monitoring 78 Unit VIII. Total Literacy Movement 78-79 3.2.4 79-80 Financial Expenditure 3.3 Achievements at Various Education Levels 80-85 3.3.1 Primary Education 81-82 3.3.2 Secondary Education 82-83 3.3.3 Tertiary Education 83-84 3.3.4 Adult Literacy Rate 84-85 3.4 Constraints and Challenges in Education Sector 86-91 3.4.1 ‘Out of Reach’ School and Dropped out Children 86-87 3.4.2 Quality of Education 87-88 3.4.3 Rural-Urban Difference 88 3.4.4 Educational Expenses 88-89 3.4.5 Poor Governance 89 3.4.6 Lack of Resources 89-91 3.5 Overall Women’s Status in Bangladesh 91-96 3.6 Comparison among South Asian Countries 96-100 3.7 Concluding Remarks 100-102 Chapter 4 Health Status of Women in Bangladesh 103-133 4.1 Health System in Bangladesh 104-108 4.1.1 Health Infrastructure and Services 105-108 I. Primary Health Care Services 105-106 II. Secondary Health Services 106 III. Tertiary Health Care 106-108 4.2 Health Policies and Strategies 108-115 4.2.1 Health Policies and Strategies 108-110 4.2.2 Health Sector Program 110-112 I. National Nutrition Program 111 II. Area Based Community Nutrition Program 111-112 III. School Feeding Program 112 v 4.2.3 Drug Policy 112-113 4.2.4 Population Policy 113-114 4.2.5 Financial Allocation to Health Sector 114-115 4.3 Achievements in Health Issues 115-121 4.3.1 Child Morality Rate 116-117 4.3.2 Maternal Morality Ratio 117-118 4.3.3 Nutritional Status of Children 118-120 4.3.4 120-121 Fertility Reduction and Population Growth 4.4 Constraints and Challenges in Health Sector 122-127 4.4.1 Infant and Child Morality Rate 122 4.4.2 Maternal Morality Ratio 122-123 4.4.3 Nutritional Status of Children 123-125 4.4.4 Rural-Urban Differences 125 4.4.5 Lack of Resources 125-127 4.5 Overall Women’s Status in Health Services 127-128 4.6 Comparison among South Asian Countries 128-131 4.7 Concluding Remarks 131-133 Chapter 5 Methodology 134-173 5.1 Explanation of Variables and Terminologies 137-139 5.2 Justification for Using Quantitative Approach 139-140 5.3 Hypotheses 140-141 5.4 Model Specification 142-158 5.4.1 The Logit and the Probit Models 142-144 I. The Logit Model 142-143 II. The Probit Model 143-144 5.4.2 Model for Educational Attainment 144-150 5.4.3 Multiple Regression Model 151-154 5.4.4 Child Nutrition Model 154-158 5.5 Regression Technique 159-165 5.5.1 Estimation of Children’s School Attendance 159-162 I. Multicollinearity 159-161 II. Selection Bias 161-162 III. Heteroscedasticity 162 vi IV. Discussion of Hypotheses 162 5.5.2 Estimation of Children’s Nutritional Status 162-165 I. Multicollinearity 163-164 II. Heteroscedasticity 164 164-165 III. Regarding Hypotheses and Beta Coefficient 5.6 Sources of Data 165-171 5.6.1 Survey Design 165-169 5.6.2 Limitation of Data 169-171 5.7 Concluding Remarks 172-173 Chapter 6 Educational Attainment: Data Analysis and the Expected Results 174-206 6.1 Description of Variables 175-186 6.1.1 Dependent Variables 175-176 I. School Attendance 175-176 6.1.2 Independent Variables 176-186 I. Household Income 176-177 II. Parent’s Education 177-180 III. Father’s Education* boy and Mother’s Education *girl 180-181 IV. Female Headed Household 181 V. Girls’ Status in School Attendance 181-182 VI. Age of Child 182-183 VII. Average Expenditure in Schooling 183-185 VIII. Distance to School 185 185-186 IX.